This song has been posted before. But, once more with feeling!



DADDY WHAT DID YOU DO IN THE STRIKE
(Ewan MacColl)

It was in the year of '84 shit really hit the fan
When 'Mac the Knife' MacGregor, Maggie Thatcher's hatchet-man
Said, Another twenty pits will have to close to meet the plan
And we'll dump another twenty thousand miners

Daddy were you with the first of the first
Did you tell the NCB to do its worst
Or did you save your lily liver
Sell the union down the river
A scab, a blackleg, one forever cursed

When Arthur Scargill heard the news he cried, This Yankee slob
Is a gift from Cowboy Reagan and he's here to steal our jobs
Do an axe-job on the union for the crummy Thatcher mob
But we'll show him what it means to be a miner

Daddy did you man the picket-line
Did you fight to save the future of the mines
Or did you take the wrong direction
Did you squeal for police protection
Did you let 'em see your india-rubber spine

Well the Yorkshire lads came out on strike and said, It's evident
The only way to stop MacGregor and the government
Is to bring the lads out everywhere from Scotland down to Kent
And we'll show 'em what it means to be a miner

Daddy what did you do in the strike
Did you stand there with your mates and join the fight
Or did you show a yellow belly
Spill your guts out on the telly
Did you let the bosses fill you full of shite

Some didn't heed the strike call for guts and brains they lack
They're the colour of a primrose though their hearts and legs are black
And their noses are all brown with being up the rear of Mac
They're just a bunch of dirty blackleg miners

Daddy did you march at the head
Did you stand there on the picket-line unfed
Or did you sell your mates to have a
Fortnight on the Costa Brava
Did you choose a two-week holiday instead

Well the battle it is joined at last the forces they are massed
On their side the press the telly all the weapons of their class
Plus MacGregor and his blacklegs but we'll never let 'em pass
The NUM's the weapon of the miners

Daddy what did you do in the strike
Did you scab and let your workmates wage the fight
How the neighbours stood and booed us
Said we had the stink of Judas
Daddy what did you do in the strike